Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan no doubt all have their habits–the good, the bad and the ugly. For example, in Styles’ case, it may be his penchant for tattoos, his effusive use of hairspray, and his cougar-hunting ways. But, when it comes to Malik, he may be an even bigger rebel than the rest of his One Direction mates; he’s got the body art and the butts (the cigarette butts, that is).

Like many a young entertainer and celebrity who have been caught puffing away during smoke breaks on set, during their off-hours or in the club, Malik is also victim to the unhealthy nicotine kick–and he’s been hooked on cigarettes since he was 15.

“It’s proving difficult [to give up]. Hopefully I’ll stop soon. I just don’t want it to affect my health. When I get older I don’t want to be one of those dads that can’t jog through the park without running out of breath after 10 minutes,” he said, as Entertainmentwise reports. Nor does he probably want to ruin his best instrument: his voice.

At least he’s not parading around an aura of invincibility like some young whippersnappers; he obviously recognizes the error of his ways and is trying to remedy the situation by kicking smoking to the curb.

It could be difficult for Malik to quit right now, though, as he seems to be dealing with some stressful situations. The unsavory side of fame has reared its ugly head in his direction with some serious Twitter hate, some hurtful “terrorist” labels and those rather constant rumors and accusations of him cheating on his girlfriend, Perrie Edwards. He may be holding onto his cigs until he gets through some of this stuff.

But if he can muster up the self-discipline and quit successfully, Zayn Malik could be a walking billboard or a PSA espousing the stop smoking campaign. He’s in the perfect demographic to really speak to young people who need to quit blowing smoke before they do major damage to their health and well-being. Plus he’ll be an even better role model–and a boyfriend, as his girl Edwards may enjoy no longer kissing an ashtray!